Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
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Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | Olympic Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
Dates | August 18, 2004 (heats & final) | |||||||||
Competitors | 74 from 16 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 7:53.42 WR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay took place on 18 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.[1]
The U.S. women's swimming team (Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer, and Kaitlin Sandeno) broke the oldest world record in the book, when they clocked at 7:53.42, slashing 2.05 seconds off the old, mark set by the East Germans exactly 17 years ago. Leading off the race, Coughlin swam a fastest split and a personal best of 1:57.74, which became quicker than a gold-medal performance of 1:58.03 set by Romania's Camelia Potec in the individual 200 m freestyle.[2][3][4]
With Team USA taking its third straight title since the event's Olympic debut in 1996, China made a surprise packet with a silver medal, in an Asian record of 7:55.97.[5] Meanwhile, the unified Germans held off the Aussies for the bronze in 7:57.35, 45-hundredths of a second under an old Olympic record set by Team USA in 2000. Despite missing the podium by 0.05 of a second, the Australians broke their national record of 7:57.40 to settle only for fourth place.[2]